New project to discover the words that babies know

When do babies start talking? What are their first words? Do girls really learn to speak sooner? How does poverty live in the speed with which children develop? How to know if a child is falling behind in his language development and needs an extra boost?

In a new project at the University of Liverpool, scientists are trying to find an answer to these questions. They participated in an exciting new BBC 2 program titled "Babies: Their Wonderful World" starting at 9 pm today.

Scientists have asked more than 2,000 parents of children aged 8 to 30 months to tell us what words their children can say, by filling in a UK-CDI. The CDI includes questionnaires designed to measure the language skills of children at different ages. CDIs are interesting because they are filled by parents, at home, at the time that suits them.

Pilot information uncovered new findings on regional contrasts in the United Kingdom. Part of these is easy to clarify. For example, in Wales, Yorkshire and Humber, and in East England, more children used tea to refer to a meal, whereas 39, in London, Scotland, the Southwest, the Southeast, the West Midlands and the East refer to a drink considerably more regularly.

That bodes well; the children of the north of England use the word tea to refer to the feast of the night, although the children of the south and the west Midlands use dinner instead.

Michelle Peter, of the LuCiD ESRC Center at the University of Liverpool, said, "Babies in London are the least likely to thank you and are sorry among their first words. But on the other hand, it is also the children who are most likely to say yes and yes.

"So, they may not thank you for things, but at least they ask you politely! And for those of us who know nothing about toddlers, having a child who says yes – instead of all the time – is a godsend. "

Professor Caroline Rowland, who led the UK-CDI pilot project, said:" We are now carefully badyzing these findings to decide which words to include in the final version of the UK-CDI. This is important because IDUs must contain words that distinguish young and old children, and between fast speakers and slow speakers. "

" We will then gather more information from more than 1,000 parents using our new CDI, and use this information to: build a picture of how British children learn to speak between 16 and 30 months. "

" This will have a considerable impact on our knowledge of how children learn to speak here in the UK and provides health visitors and preschool teachers. with the information they need to identify children who may be slow to learn to speak and implement interventions to help them speed up. "